Snow Blooms

Things were blooming today! Just check out the beautiful blossoms on this tree by the library. Actually the whole town looked similar to this. Blossoms everywhere. Really makes a person anxious for those spring flowers to open up everywhere. This is a surprise St. Patrick's day. Not unusual, I guess. After all, there is a saying, I think that goes like this: there will be 3 snows on a Robin's tail after he arrives. (and he's definitely back.)

downhill all the way

The ride home is downhill. I have three whole blocks on my bike, to coast! So cool. I don't even have to pedal, just push off. Oh I might have to stop to cross traffic once, but that's it. So the morning ride up the hill is pretty well forgotten. (if you can call it a hill) I'm expecting things in my life to go something like that. I've hit 50. Top of the hill. I should be able to coast down the "rest" of the way. Just steer and watch out for traffic. Funny how things I expect don't always seem to pan out that way. hmmmm. I'm sure there must be a scripture verse, though that supports this thesis: " Yea, tho I walk up high hills in my youth, in old age thou shalt coast downhill all the way"2Hez1:1...

Passing it on..

Things I say without thinking: (and wish I had a better alternative for) Have a good day. How are you? It's not fair. It's not my fault. I told you so...

Things my mother told me: If everyone else was jumping off a bridge would you? Be careful, your face might freeze like that. (usually a frown) Don't put in writing what you would be ashamed for your mother to hear. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Marry in haste, repent at leisure.(in commenting about quick romance)

Things my father told me: Stand up straight, put your shoulders back or you'll grow up stooped. (thoughts on posture) Because I said so... (when asked why) Don't do as I do, do as I say. (when questioned about reasons) If I say jump you can only ask 'how high'. (when obedience was mandatory) Chew with your mouth closed. Don't hold your fork like a shovel. If your getting the milk for free why buy the cow? ( a reference to why you should not live together) If you don't work, you don't eat. (hard labor required) Who is his father/mother? (when being told about new friends at school)

Things my grandfather told me: Did you look in the refrigerator? (when hunting for a lost item) Kezhundit.(after every sneeze) It will get better before you get married. (to spilled blood)

Anything you ever wanted can be found in the city. (commenting on the wonders of living in a large city, i.e. Chicago)

No doubt I've used some or parts of all of these pithy pieces of advice on my own kids. They'll probabably pass them on to theirs!

What's in a name?

This past weekend at Phinehas' dedication the pastor introduced him as Phinehas Cooper "crow-shay". At this there was a collective gasp in the pew. This pastor had no way of knowing that he had inadvertently stumbled over an old 'secret'. That for nearly 20 years we had been the 'crow-shays' and had finally reclaimed our rightful name only recently. It was so surprising it was nearly funny.

When I was a young bride and moved with my new husband 400 miles from family and friends to what was then the wilds of NW Iowa, and we began meeting people and making friends we were often asked how our last name was pronounced. (the spelling of it certainly didn't give any clues) Since it wasn't my name to begin with I always deferred to my husband (though I think he might remember it differently.) He told people to pronounce it just like the thing you do with two needles: crochet. I think he was trying to make it easy on people. That "crow-she" was too much of a mouth full. Too hard to reconcile with the actual spelling of the name. At any rate, once people started to call us 'crow-shay' there was no going back. To all my students I was Mrs. Crow-shay. (although once, some poor confused child called me Mrs. Knitting) Our kids must have wondered why our name was different from their paternal grandparents, but none of them ever asked. And then we moved. At last! We had a chance to right all wrongs. By now we knew that people really could handle unusual name spellings with difficult pronunciations. So at school, in town, Ron's work, every where we told people we were really the 'crow-she's'. And it worked. Though I admit there was a bit of cross confusion at my work place since I didn't change jobs only towns. But then we moved again. and again. and again. And everywhere we are the Crow-she's without one bit of difficulty....well. Unless they are friends from that first place. They haven't had the heart to change our name. And it actually helps us identify some people. We know if we get called 'crow-shay' they are friends from Webb. (helps narrow the list of friends down if we don't remember their faces. So back to Phinehas' pastor and the slip he made. It made us wonder if he had Webb roots, or if we were right all along. Crow-she was too difficult to handle. We should have stuck with Crow-shay!

What can be more delightful than the antics of a 2 year old? They may be embarrassing to their parents, but they not so to their grandparents! Isaiah enjoyed himself thoroughly at his brother, Phin's dedication this past Sunday. It began when he got to stand on stage during the dedication! After all, how often do you get 3 sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins to perform in front of??! I laughed at his wiggling and dancing on stage; his excited running between grandma's, and his show off play in front of his aunt and uncles. My favorite part, though, was feeding him fruit dip on a snow pea. Over and over and over. I reasoned that Isaiah is definitely allowed double dipping since he couldn't eat the brownies!! You can bet there will be more pictures here of a wonderful family moment.

I hear spring

The snow in our backyard hides the truth: Spring is almost here! I feel like Edmund in the Lion,the witch and the wardrobe when he suddenly notices spring:

"The sky became bluer and bluer, and now there were white clouds hurrying across it from time to time. In th wide glades there were primroses. A light breeze sprang up which scattered drops of moisture from the swaying branches and carried cool delicious scents against the faces of the travelers. The trees began to come fully alive. The larches and birches were covered with green, the laburnums with gold. Soon the beech trees had put forth their delicate transparent leaves. “This is no thaw”…” This is spring! What are we to do? Your winter has been destroyed, I tell you! This is Aslan’s doing."

It's true here, too! I notice it all around me despite the huge piles of snow! Water running everywhere, kids out riding bikes without their coats on, Walkers are everywhere. The car wash has a long line. The cardinal is singing to beat the band in the tops of the trees. I need to see a robin yet, but it doesn't matter if he's here or not. This feels like the real deal! Ron spent the better part of the afternoon sitting on our back deck in a spot that isn't dripping. Buster lay in the sun in the front room. We washed the truck and Amy's car, and scraped the last of the ice off our stoop. Tonight we'll fire up the grill!

Worrywart

I am a natural born worrier. I win the title of WORRY WART in my family! It only got worse after my kids were born. Eeoyre has nothing on me. i have planned so many funerals, expected all the worst disasters, cried bitter tears of worried angst. Shel Silverstein's little poem has "Sue" written all over it: Last night while I lay thinking here
some whatifs crawled inside my ear
and danced and partied all night long
and sang their same old whatif song: Whatif....

Then begins the list of 'whatifs'. Over the years this has created some uncomfortable times for the family. There was the time our oldest son was coming home from overseas and he didn't call when I expected him to; the time our youngest son took the family car and also didn't phone in created somewhat of an unneccesary panic; Any of the family flying in planes, driving cars, off on trips or some other method of being out of sight could cause enormous panic in me. Laying in the dark sometimes made things even worse. I couldn't sleep well. I was irritable. I have never had a wonderful deliverance from this terrible habit. It's really unbelief in its ugliest form. Of that fact, God has made perfectly clear to me. I don't trust Him enough to take care of, or to believe that he has my best interests in His heart. Slowly, slowly, over the years I have learned that worry will be an ever present temptation. When I lie in bed in the dark and the worry threatens to overwhelm me I have learned to conciously give it back to God. To choose not to worry. To choose trust over doubt. My kids still laugh at me and ask me "if I was worried." They try very hard to help me minimize the worry by phoning, by telling and describing. But even more importantly I have slowly learned that I really can trust the God who holds the past and the future in eternity. I don't doubt that bad things could happen, but I know who I can trust. "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper..."